Replacing Front Window — 189FBS

foakes

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2019
Messages
119
Location
Sierra Nevadas of California
Our new to us last year — 2009 FF 189FBS — had a small 2” crack in the lower corner of the front window.

On our last boon-docking trip out to the Mojave Desert a couple of weeks ago — it got worse and traveled across the entire 48” X 18” window.

I just duct taped it on both sides — and intended to fix it when we returned home.

Called 2 local RV repair shops — one said that they could order a new window and frame — it would run $825 + tax, and 2 hours labor. So a little over $1000.

Other RV shop said that they would have a glass guy come by, remove the window, custom cut a piece of glass, and reinstall it. $350 + 2 hours labor — about $550 + tax. Trouble is, they said it would take about 2 weeks.

So I called around to glass shops myself. As soon as I said trailer (RV) — everyone said they could not do the job because they did not have the equipment for RV glass.

Knowing this was just grey tinted plate glass — I figured the best bet would be to remove the glass and framework myself — then take it to a local glass shop.

Did that yesterday — took it to one of the shops that said they could not do it — and after looking at it — decided they could do it.

Took 2 hours for the owner of the shop to remove the broken glass, clean off all of the adhesive, cut a new piece of glass, round the radius corners to fit, anneal and smooth the edges, reinstall and seal the new glass in the frame. Total materials and labor ran $218.75.

I reinstalled it today using Butyl putty tape, secured the inner ring to the outer ring using all the same screws, cut off the squeezed out Butyl tape, ran a bead of Silicone across the top and down the upper corners about 5 inches, reinstalled the privacy blind and the valence.

The “Fun finder” decal in front was cracked and ugly — ordered a new one a week ago on E-Bay for $25 and free shipping. Using a heat gun and some elbow grease and scrapers — got the old one off in about 30 minutes.

It all looks new now.

Best,

Fred
 

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Last edited:
Well done! Fred, if that is a shot of your house, it looks like you've got room for a big RV garage with room for a workshop. I can only dream of that much space -- I live in coastal Southern Calif, where the lot sizes are much smaller.
 

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